Optimality of poly-vinyl alcohol/starch/glycerol/citric acid in wound dressing applicable composite films

This work addresses response surface methodology (RSM) design based investigations to obtain optimality of quaternary formulations [variant macromolecular concentrations of starch (St, 5-10 w/w%), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA, 5-10 w/w%), citric acid (CA, 15-40 wt%) and glycerol (Gl, 15-40 wt%)] associated to wound dressing films. Appropriate combinations of the swelling index (SI), weight loss (WL%) during 27 days, tensile strength (TS) and percentage elongation (%E) have been considered during such studies. The optimized composition was achieved through RSM optimization and exhibited very good water absorption (300.5% SI) and flexibility (87.5%E), and acceptable in-vitro degradation (51.4% WL) and TS (5 MPa) values, which are significantly better than reported data. Further, the film constitution indicated amplified antibacterial effectiveness against both Gram-positive (Listeria monocytogenes) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) bacteria and enhanced cell growth (145.5%) to thereby infer upon the potential associated with its application as a viable wound dressing film.